Desktop Support Contract Job Trends

Desktop Support
UK

The median Desktop Support daily rate in the UK is £175, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 2 December 2025.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

 6 months to
2 Dec 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 334 352 295
Rank change year-on-year +18 -57 +21
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 258 218 354
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.72% 0.61% 0.78%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.79% 0.66% 0.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 169 141 255
10th Percentile £148 £140 £131
25th Percentile £155 £174 £143
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £175 £215 £200
Median % change year-on-year -18.60% +7.50% -
75th Percentile £241 £240 £235
90th Percentile £278 £269 £309
UK excluding London median daily rate £175 £210 £200
% change year-on-year -16.67% +5.00% +4.58%
Number of hourly rates quoted 46 20 17
10th Percentile £14.87 £22.50 £16.97
25th Percentile £17.25 £23.76 £18.00
Median hourly rate £20.82 £24.18 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year -13.90% +24.00% +6.12%
75th Percentile £25.15 £30.17 £20.00
90th Percentile £31.40 £32.95 £22.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.46 £24.18 £19.50
% change year-on-year -11.25% +24.00% +9.86%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 32,727 33,118 42,499
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.97% 92.81% 93.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,756 20,117 28,647
10th Percentile £284 £300 £294
25th Percentile £402 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £645
90th Percentile £724 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £496 £500
% change year-on-year -4.14% -0.90% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,905 1,179 1,517
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.32 £15.21
25th Percentile £17.96 £20.63 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.00
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -20.45% +44.26%
75th Percentile £57.50 £64.61 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.50 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year -22.62% -26.97% +78.00%

Desktop Support
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Desktop Support' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Desktop Support job vacancy trend in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 2 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 2 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Desktop Support within the UK over the 6 months to 2 December 2025. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads		 Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months		 Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Live
Jobs
England +1 232 £195 -10.96% 60
UK excluding London -15 175 £175 -16.67% 57
London +19 75 £200 -7.30% 9
North of England -34 44 £175 -20.45% 19
South West +9 37 £250 +12.36% 10
South East -5 33 £178 -16.18% 12
Midlands -15 26 £170 -11.57% 9
East of England -8 22 £220 +4.76% 6
North West -18 22 £190 -8.98% 16
East Midlands -7 13 £158 -42.73% 5
West Midlands -23 13 £175 +0.29% 4
North East +2 12 £175 -
Wales +7 11 £160 -27.27%
Yorkshire -33 10 £165 -26.67% 3
Scotland -7 5 £130 -7.14% 2
Northern Ireland -8 3 £200 +29.03%
Work from Home -10 3 £220 -10.20% 10

Desktop Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 2 December 2025, Desktop Support contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Desktop Support in the job title.

1 145 (56.20%) Windows
2 111 (43.02%) Microsoft 365
3 104 (40.31%) Microsoft
4 95 (36.82%) Security Cleared
5 94 (36.43%) SC Cleared
6 93 (36.05%) Customer Service
7 87 (33.72%) Active Directory
8 74 (28.68%) Windows 10
9 64 (24.81%) Microsoft Office
10 62 (24.03%) ITIL
11 42 (16.28%) Mac OS
11 42 (16.28%) SAP
12 41 (15.89%) Business Intelligence
12 41 (15.89%) Digital Marketing
12 41 (15.89%) Programme Management
13 40 (15.50%) Microsoft Exchange
14 39 (15.12%) Android
15 37 (14.34%) Cisco
15 37 (14.34%) Problem-Solving
16 34 (13.18%) Service Management
17 31 (12.02%) Azure
17 31 (12.02%) Microsoft Intune
17 31 (12.02%) Workflow
18 30 (11.63%) Dell
18 30 (11.63%) HP
18 30 (11.63%) ServiceNow
18 30 (11.63%) SLA
18 30 (11.63%) Wireless
19 29 (11.24%) Service Delivery
20 28 (10.85%) Apple

Desktop Support Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 40 (15.50%) Microsoft Exchange
2 22 (8.53%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.39%) Exchange Server 2010
3 1 (0.39%) HCL Notes
Applications
1 64 (24.81%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (8.53%) Microsoft Excel
3 11 (4.26%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.39%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.78%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.39%) assyst
2 1 (0.39%) Eikon
2 1 (0.39%) Eze OMS
2 1 (0.39%) Fidessa
Cloud Services
1 111 (43.02%) Microsoft 365
2 31 (12.02%) Azure
3 16 (6.20%) OneDrive
4 6 (2.33%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 30 (11.63%) Wireless
2 19 (7.36%) VPN
3 13 (5.04%) PABX
4 12 (4.65%) DNS
5 11 (4.26%) DHCP
6 9 (3.49%) Skype
7 8 (3.10%) Cisco IOS
8 6 (2.33%) TCP/IP
9 5 (1.94%) LAN
9 5 (1.94%) Structured Cabling
10 4 (1.55%) Remote Desktop
10 4 (1.55%) WAN
11 3 (1.16%) Firewall
11 3 (1.16%) VLAN
12 2 (0.78%) Softphone
12 2 (0.78%) WLAN
13 1 (0.39%) IP Telephony
13 1 (0.39%) NetScaler
13 1 (0.39%) Network Security
13 1 (0.39%) Unified Communications
Development Applications
1 1 (0.39%) JIRA
General
1 131 (50.78%) Social Skills
2 85 (32.95%) Finance
3 49 (18.99%) Public Sector
4 43 (16.67%) Telecoms
5 42 (16.28%) Manufacturing
6 41 (15.89%) Electronics
6 41 (15.89%) Marketing
7 31 (12.02%) Analytical Skills
8 15 (5.81%) Banking
9 9 (3.49%) Front Office
10 8 (3.10%) Retail
11 6 (2.33%) Aerospace
11 6 (2.33%) Documentation Skills
12 5 (1.94%) Organisational Skills
13 4 (1.55%) Investment Banking
14 2 (0.78%) Legal
15 1 (0.39%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 1 (0.39%) Law
15 1 (0.39%) Pharmaceutical
15 1 (0.39%) Retail Banking
Miscellaneous
1 28 (10.85%) Self-Motivation
2 25 (9.69%) Data Centre
3 16 (6.20%) Smartphone
4 14 (5.43%) iPad
4 14 (5.43%) iPhone
5 11 (4.26%) Driving Licence
6 10 (3.88%) Mobile App
6 10 (3.88%) Onboarding
7 7 (2.71%) Management Information System
7 7 (2.71%) Video Conferencing
8 5 (1.94%) Hedge funds
9 3 (1.16%) Virtual Team
10 2 (0.78%) CMDB
10 2 (0.78%) Tandem
11 1 (0.39%) BYOD
11 1 (0.39%) Data Protection Act
11 1 (0.39%) Fat Client
11 1 (0.39%) Legacy Applications
11 1 (0.39%) Legacy Systems
11 1 (0.39%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 145 (56.20%) Windows
2 74 (28.68%) Windows 10
3 42 (16.28%) Mac OS
4 39 (15.12%) Android
5 14 (5.43%) Apple iOS
6 12 (4.65%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.78%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.39%) Linux
8 1 (0.39%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 93 (36.05%) Customer Service
2 62 (24.03%) ITIL
3 41 (15.89%) Business Intelligence
3 41 (15.89%) Digital Marketing
3 41 (15.89%) Programme Management
4 37 (14.34%) Problem-Solving
5 34 (13.18%) Service Management
6 31 (12.02%) Workflow
7 29 (11.24%) Service Delivery
8 28 (10.85%) Time Management
9 27 (10.47%) ITSM
10 26 (10.08%) Migration
11 23 (8.91%) Inventory Management
12 22 (8.53%) Workflow Management
13 21 (8.14%) Patch Management
14 15 (5.81%) Mobile Device Management
15 14 (5.43%) Incident Management
16 13 (5.04%) Logistics
17 12 (4.65%) Antivirus Management
18 11 (4.26%) Ticket Management
Programming Languages
1 16 (6.20%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 95 (36.82%) Security Cleared
2 94 (36.43%) SC Cleared
3 24 (9.30%) Degree
4 18 (6.98%) ITIL Certification
5 11 (4.26%) Microsoft Certification
6 4 (1.55%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (1.55%) DBS Check
7 3 (1.16%) A+ Certification
7 3 (1.16%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 1 (0.39%) Computer Science Degree
8 1 (0.39%) Dell Certification
8 1 (0.39%) MCP
8 1 (0.39%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (11.63%) SLA
2 10 (3.88%) QA
3 7 (2.71%) GDPR
4 1 (0.39%) COBIT
System Software
1 87 (33.72%) Active Directory
2 14 (5.43%) Virtual Desktop
3 5 (1.94%) BitLocker
4 4 (1.55%) Firmware
5 1 (0.39%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.39%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (0.39%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.39%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 31 (12.02%) Microsoft Intune
2 27 (10.47%) SCCM
Vendors
1 104 (40.31%) Microsoft
2 42 (16.28%) SAP
3 37 (14.34%) Cisco
4 30 (11.63%) Dell
4 30 (11.63%) HP
4 30 (11.63%) ServiceNow
5 28 (10.85%) Apple
6 9 (3.49%) McAfee
7 8 (3.10%) Bloomberg
8 7 (2.71%) Starlink
9 5 (1.94%) Remedy
10 3 (1.16%) Citrix
10 3 (1.16%) VMware
11 2 (0.78%) Reuters
12 1 (0.39%) Altiris
12 1 (0.39%) Lotus
12 1 (0.39%) Oracle
12 1 (0.39%) Tradeweb
12 1 (0.39%) Trayport
12 1 (0.39%) Wyse
62 Desktop Support jobs Nationwide